Escort
by raisingme
Summary: A one-shot set in an AU where Gail is an escort to pay for school, because her parents cut her off when she told them she wasn't going into policing. Holly is a medical student who needs a date to a wedding. Takes place a month after the wedding.


13

Holly was enjoying having three days off in a row, a rarity for a resident. Granted it _did_ come after working 66 hours in the previous five days. Because of this she was exhausted, and had planned her time off accordingly. Her 'to do' list for the next three days was very short.

_Eat._

_Drink water._

_Sleep._

_Repeat._

She glanced up from her book to look at the clock on the wall of her living room.

_11:12pm_

The past five days she had worked into the wee hours of the morning, so she still wasn't tired. She took a sip of the glass of water next to her before going back to reading. A few minutes later Holly heard a noise. Or she thought she heard a noise. She wasn't actually sure. It almost sounded as if someone was knocking on her door, but it was so faint...and there it was again. She scrunched up her face as she put her book down and got up to walk to the door. She wasn't sure who would be coming to her apartment at, _11:21pm_, according to the wall clock. Holly didn't have many friends. Okay, she really didn't have _any_ friends. Gail could have been a friend though...in an alternate universe where they didn't meet through an escort agency because Holly needed a plus one to her cousin's wedding last month.

Holly audibly groaned at the thought. She had been absolutely mortified by the whole situation, but was tired of being harassed by her family for still being single. They just couldn't seem to understand exactly how time consuming being a resident was. Just like they couldn't understand how time consuming being a medical student was. Just like they couldn't…

"Shit," Holly mumbled under her breath, startled by the extremely loud knocking, no, pounding on her door.

"I'm coming!"

Holly finally reached the door, unlocked the deadbolt, and opened it to reveal Gail standing in front of her door, looking anywhere but directly at Holly.

"Um, I don't think that I placed another order," Holly said with a smirk as she tilted her head to the side, crossing her arms across her chest as she leaned against the door frame. "Oh crap, did I accidently do one of those 'recurring order' things? Did I sign up for the 'escort of the month' club?" Holly couldn't hold her laughter in any longer. Sometimes she really did crack herself up. Her head fell backwards as she guffawed loudly. A few moments later she had regained her composure and once again looked at Gail.

Gail hadn't moved one inch.

Her shoulders were slumped forward.

She was staring at the ground.

Holly just stared at her trying to take her all in.

As ridiculous as it felt getting an escort for her cousin's wedding, Gail had been wonderful. Holly couldn't remember the last time she had had so much fun. Holly had been unbelievably nervous about the whole thing, but Gail had put her at ease right from the beginning. Growing up Holly had always been so focused on academics that she never really had time for friends. She tended to be socially awkward, so even when she did reach other to other people it always ended badly. Gail was different though. The entire night at the wedding Holly had to keep reminding herself that Gail was different because this was her _job_. She was paid to do this...befriend weirdos...make them feel normal...like other people would find them interesting. Holly had to admit that Gail was very good at her job, because by the end of the night, if she hadn't known any better, she would have thought that Gail actually _did_ like her...

"AS A FRIEND!"

"What?" Gail looked up, confusion evident on her face.

Holly was suddenly mortified. She had no idea why she had blurted that part OUT LOUD, and right in front of Gail.

"Um, I...uh, just…"

Holly was flustered, but that vanished as soon as she actually saw Gail. When she first opened the door she knew that Gail had come from work based off of her 'fuck me heels' (Gail's own words from the wedding) and form fitting red dress. But once Holly saw Gail's face…

"Hey," she said softly, as she reached out to gently cup Gail's face.

Gail immediately stepped back just out of Holly's reach and hung her head once again.

"No, um...I should go. I shouldn't have even come here. It was stupid. And probably creepy...I uh...I just, um...you mentioned where you lived at the wedding, and I was around the corner…"

"At the Carlton Hotel?"

Gail slowly nodded her head.

"Hey. Come inside. I'll make us a cup of tea. Okay?"

Holly reached her hand out, palm facing upward, practically willing Gail's hand to take it.

But she didn't. Instead she sighed loudly before raising her head to look at Holly.

Once again Holly saw her make up stained cheeks, no doubt a result of crying. Holly figured that Gail must have been crying _a lot_ to get her fancy and ungodly expensive mascara to run like that. More concerning though was her bruised and swollen bottom lip, and the cut on her forehead that certainly needed to be sutured. As she continued to study Gail she also noticed a tear on the left strap of her dress. A part of Holly was completely enraged at this point. At the same time she knew that Gail could be easily spooked, so she needed to do her best to remain calm, at least outwardly.

"Gail. Come inside. You can take a bath and get cleaned up, and I'll let you borrow some clothes. I'll make us some tea and I can make you something to eat if you're hungry. If nothing else, I know that you don't want to go back to your place, to Chris and Dov, looking like that."

Gail had mentioned her roommates, Chris and Dov, to Holly at the wedding. She met them in an introduction to criminal justice class that Gail had taken just to shut up her mother. Holly had hoped that trying to be practical would convince Gail to come inside. From the stories that Gail had told her, Holly knew that they viewed Gail as a sister, and had she come home looking like that, they would more than likely drive all over Toronto to hunt down and murder the person that did that to Gail. Upon further reflection, Holly realized that that might not be the worst thing in the world.

"I was, uh, hoping you could maybe um, this?" As Gail fumbled with her words she pointed at the gash on her forehead.

Holly smiled at Gail. "Yeah, of course. Just come inside and I'll take a look and fix you right up, okay?"

"I thought that it might need, um, some stitches, and uh, I didn't…"

"Yeah, it looks like it probably will. I have a suture kit here though, and I can take care of it. I can take care of all of it. Promise."

Holly could see the smallest smile begin to form on Gail's face.

A few minutes later and Gail was finally inside Holly's apartment. The electric kettle had been turned on, and Gail was now sitting uncomfortably on Holly's couch. Holly had made sure to lock both the handle and the deadbolt as soon as Gail was inside, in case the cat decided to jump from the tree after all. She wasn't even quite sure what that meant, but Gail had said something about it at the wedding, after having probably a little too much to drink.

Holly stared at Gail from the kitchen. She looked so defeated. Scared. Almost like a lost kitten or something...damn, that cat analogy really did stick. Holly wasn't sure what the best plan of attack was. She glanced at the clock on the wall.

_11:47pm_

Holly was sure she'd have to put at least a couple stitches in the cut on Gail's forehead. She was also fairly certain that regardless of how far that scumbag got tonight, Gail would certainly want a warm bath or shower to wash all the 'ick' off of her. Holly figured it was best to start with the bath, so Gail could start feeling human again sooner rather than later. _So I guess step one is getting Gail out of those clothes…_

"FOR A BATH!"

"Huh?" Gail's head snapped up and she stared at Holly, who was once again mortified, and very confused as to why her brain decided blurting _that_ out in front of Gail was a good life choice.

"I, um...I was just…"

"Geez, Stewart, is this why they only let you work with dead people? Your bedside manner is certainly lacking."

Holly couldn't help but let the smallest smile begin to form on her face. If Gail was still able to be snarky like this, she knew she would be okay. The fact that Gail had been able to be snarky like that with Holly at the wedding was one of the things that made Holly wonder if Gail perhaps actually did enjoy her company.

"So I should take a bath?"

Holly shook her head and focused again on Gail.

"Yes. Well, if you want to, then yes, take a bath. Or a shower. I have towels and some clothes you can borrow."

Gail looked a little confused. "Oh, okay...I um, I just wasn't sure...you know…because," she stammered as she began to gesture to her own body.

Holly was suddenly horrified. The room started spinning and time stopped. At least it sure as hell felt that way to her. _Deep breath, Stewart. Now is not the time to flip out. One of you has to be the calm one...the professional one. _It hadn't even occurred to Holly that Gail could have been...that that scumbag could have...it was as if Holly's mind wouldn't even let her go there.

Finally Holly started to slowly and steadily walk towards Gail. She sat down beside her on the couch and turned her body to try to face her.

"Gail."

"Hmmm?" Gail slowly turned her head to face Holly.

_God she's beautiful. FOCUS STEWART._

"Um," Holly was frantically trying to remember everything she had learned about dealing with sexual assault survivors, but it was as if her brain was not cooperating. At all. It was completely blank. _Fuck it, time to wing it_. She slowly reached over and gently took Gail's hand into hers, making small circles on the back of her hand with her thumb.

"You're right, Gail, um...if uh...if you, um, if someone...uh…"

"Can you spit it out, nerd?"

Holly looked down at their hands before clearing her throat and continuing. "Rape victims shouldn't bathe before going to the ER because it can wash away evidence."

"What?!"

"So you're right, you shouldn't...wait...what did you say?"

"What is wrong with you, Holly! I wasn't raped!" Gail looked incredulously at Holly.

"Great! Oh thank God! Well, I didn't think so, but you said you didn't think you were supposed to take a bath and you pointed at yourself and...who cares! Oh God! I'm just so glad you're okay!" Holly was absolutely elated, and word vomited all of that in record time. Gail on the other hand looked pissed as hell. Gail _was_ pissed as hell.

"Oh yeah, Dr. Stewart, I'm just peachy. I mean, I just had some guy give me a fat lip and cut my face up while _trying_ to rape me. No biggie."

_Shit._

Gail stood up quickly, and Holly was sure that she was going to bolt for the door, but instead she just turned slowly to look at Holly. _Glare_ at Holly really. Gail's eyes narrowed.

_Shit._

_Fuck._

_ . . ._

Gail's face began to soften. Holly had no idea why, but she certainly wasn't going to complain.

"I meant this," she said as she pointed to her forehead, "when I said I didn't know if it was okay to take a bath or shower or whatever. You said it would need stitches, and I thought you weren't supposed to get them wet." By the time she finished speaking, Gail had once again hung her head and slumped her shoulders forward. Holly was utterly confused by the woman standing in front of her. Gail's behavior didn't quite make sense to Holly, but she figured it was because Gail was in some sort of shock. She knew that different people reacted differently to trauma, and that this just must be Gail's way of trying to not come completely undone in the face of something horrific.

Horrific.

_Shit._

What happened to Gail tonight was absolutely horrific. Holly already knew that. It's why she was equal parts heartbroken and livid when she first saw the state that Gail was in. It's also why she was already planning on how to best dispose of the asshat's body once Chris and Dov hunted him down and killed him. Yet only moments earlier Holly was acting like everything was totally fine, GREAT even, simply because Gail hadn't been raped.

_Fuck._

Holly knew that things weren't great, or even okay. It was just that it never occurred to her at first that Gail could have been raped, and then she was certain that she had been, so when she found out that that wasn't the case, she was simply overcome with relief. But all Gail heard was "Oh, you weren't raped! Wonderful! I guess you're totally fine and this isn't a big deal at all."

_ . . ._

"Hey," Holly slowly stood up and face Gail.

"Hi."

"Hey."

"You already said that, Holly."

"Right. I knew it sounded familiar," she responded as her face reddened. "About what I said a moment ago...I was an idiot. Nothing that I said was what I should have said. What happened tonight _is_ a really big deal, and I'm so sorry that I ended up minimizing it."

Holly watched Gail shift uncomfortably in front of her.

"No, you were right," Gail sighed. "It's not the first time, and it won't be the last." Gail looked directly at Holly as she shrugged her shoulders. "Occupational hazard, I suppose. Right?"

Holly was fairly certain that her heart was literally breaking in that very moment.

"May I?" Holly indicated that she wanted to look at the cut on her forehead. Gail nodded approvingly. Holly took a small step forward and gently cupped Gail's chin with her left hand, while delicately brushing her hair from her face with her other hand to get a better look at the wound.

"What's the verdict, Doc?"

"It definitely needs stitches. I have a suture kit here, but I don't have the right stuff to numb it properly, so it'll hurt like a bitch."

"A couple of shots of tequila and I'll be fine. Isn't that what they used back in the day anyway?"

"You're beautiful."

_What the hell, Stewart?!_

"You should see the other guy." Gail smirked at her quick retort. "Well, if I'm beautiful with this big gash on my forehead, try to not fuck it up and leave me with some Frankenstein type scar, okay?"

"Frankenstein's monster."

"What?"

"You mean Frankenstein's monster. Frankenstein was the scientist."

"Pfft," Gail rolled her eyes at the brunette. "Whatever. You know what I mean."

"Well, I'm no plastic surgeon, but it's small enough that it shouldn't leave much of a scar." Holly took a step back and placed her hands on her hips. "I'm going to grab some fresh towels and get you some clothes to wear. The bathroom is down that hallway, first door on the right. I'll grab the suture kit and go ahead and take care of that," Holly pointed to Gail's forehead, "and then you can have a nice relaxing soak. Sound good?"

"Yeah."

"And you're right, you don't want to get them wet, so a bath will probably be better than a shower." Holly smiled at Gail before she walked towards her bedroom to get clean towels and clothes for Gail.

About ten minutes later the two women were in the bathroom, Holly beginning to clean Gail's face.

"I can do that," Gail protested.

"Have you gotten a medical degree since the last time I saw you?"

"No, but I know how to clean my own face."

"Debatable." Holly winked at Gail before giving her a lopsided grin.

"Jerk."

"That's Doctor Jerk to you."

Gail groaned before wincing in pain.

"I'm sorry. Once I clean it out I can put this numbing cream on it before I suture it, okay?"

"Okay."

Just as she did earlier in the living room, Holly had her left hand gently cupping Gail's chin, while her right hand cleaned the wound. Gail sat on the edge of Holly's GIANT bathtub (her favorite part of the entire apartment) while Holly sat in front of her on a small stool. As she finished up, she let her left hand move to Gail's cheek, where she gently brushed her thumb against her face. Holly could see Gail's eyes close as she gently leaned into Holly's touch, quietly sighing.

"You look exhausted."

"Wow, a real charmer there, Dr. Stewart. I bet all the ladies love that."

Holly began to blush and quickly pulled her hand away.

"I, um uh...yeah, I...it's clean now, so I'll just get that numbing cream."

The two women spent the next few minutes in silence. Holly had put the cream on Gail's wound and was waiting for it to take effect. She stared at the hands in her lap, afraid to make eye contact with the woman in front of her. For someone who was supposedly a genius, _an IQ of 149 for crying out loud!_, Holly was completely inept at social interactions. Gail had been right earlier, there is no way Holly could have been anything besides a forensic pathologist.

"Hey nerd, you okay?"

"Huh?" replied Holly, momentarily startled.

"You look deep in thought, and kinda worried. Is it, uh, worse than you thought?" Gail looked slightly worried as she pointed to her forehead.

"Oh! No. No, no, no. It's fine. Four stitches max, but I bet I can do it in three." Holly gave Gail a warm smile.

The next 15 minutes were spent in relative silence as Holly sutured Gail's head. She had decided to go with a row of four stitches, in hopes of helping to minimize scarring. As Holly worked, slowly and deliberately, she watched Gail's body language change. All of the confidence and snark that she had earlier had completely faded away. As she was finishing the 4th stitch, Holly glanced down and swore that she saw Gail's lips trembling, as if she were going to burst into tears at any moment.

"So I'm almost done here. I've got some epsom salt and lavender bubble bath stuff under the sink."

Holly glanced down again, and saw the tears welling up in Gail's eyes.

"Okay, all done." Holly leaned back and attempted to stand up, but Gail quickly lurched forward and grabbed fistfuls of Holly's shirt, pulling her towards the blonde. Holly's left hand braced herself against the top of the tub, while her right arm protectively wrapped around Gail's midsection.

"Hey, hey...it's okay. Shhhhh…" Holly soothingly rubbed Gail's back as she spoke. She awkwardly stayed in that position for what felt like hours, but only because her legs were burning from supporting her body at such an unnatural angle. She slowly squatted in front of the blonde and gently placed her hands on Gail's knees, rubbing circles on them with her thumbs. They sat in silence for a moment before Gail took a deep breath to steady herself before speaking.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have even come here. Like I said earlier, it's probably creepy, I uh, I just...I...I don't even know."

"Don't apologize. Never apologize for taking care of yourself and keeping yourself safe, okay? And it's not creepy. This," Holly gestured between them "isn't creepy, okay?" Holly flipped her hands over, palms up, once again willing Gail to put her hands in hers. This time she did. Holly smiled at Gail and squeezed her hands. "So here's the plan. I'm going to actually make us that tea. You'll have a nice long soak. Don't forget the epsom salt and lavender," Holly nodded towards the sink. "I can make you a little something to eat, and then I'll put you to bed, and I'll take the fold out bed in the office. And tomorrow we can go to IKEA and start working on turning my office into your bedroom."

"Yeah, that sounds good...wait...what?"

"What what?"

"Holly!"

"What?!"

"Why are we turning your office into my bedroom?"

"A little forward there, Gail, don't you think? Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I want to be sharing my bed with you," Holly smirked at Gail, who rolled her eyes in response.

"That's not what I meant, and you know that, Holly. I already have a bedroom. In my _own_ apartment."

"Yes, one that you can't afford unless you work...like this." Holly nodded towards Gail and swallowed. "And you can't do that anymore. You said that this wasn't the first time that this happened, but it will be the last."

"Holly,"

"No. Let me finish, okay?" The blonde slowly nodded. "Gail, no one deserves to be treated like this, least of all you. And I know that we don't know each other very well, but I'm not going to let you continue to be in danger like this when I have a perfectly good second room that you can use. I can't...uh...I...when I became a doctor I took an oath to 'do no harm' and Gail, my inaction in this situation could cause you great harm. So I can't do nothing. I have to help you. You have to let me help you. Please?"

Holly felt desperate. More desperate than she could ever remember feeling in her entire life. Even more desperate than that time in undergrad when for the life of her she couldn't figure out how to unclasp that cheerleader's bra..._focus, Stewart!_

Holly was desperate. She was desperate for Gail. Not in some lascivious way though. She simply found Gail intoxicating and couldn't get enough of her. That night at the wedding Holly had felt like she had met her soulmate. She knew that Gail wasn't gay, but that didn't bother her, at least not consciously. It wasn't about sex anyway. She felt as if Gail could be 'her person'...

"I mean Meredith would do this for Cristina, you know?"

"What?"

_shit...I am seriously watching too much "Grey's Anatomy"_...

"Nothing...nevermind." Holly gently shook her head. "Anyway, will you let me help you?" She looked at Gail with a hopeful expression on her face. "You can stay here, rent free, for as long as you need to. The place is certainly big enough for two people, and I'm almost never home anyway with work."

"Rent free? No, Holly, no…"

"Yes, Gail. I'm a doctor. I make more than enough money. I don't need you paying rent. I don't need you worrying about that right now."

"I couldn't."

"But you will." Holly gave Gail her trademarked lopsided grin. "And if it bothers you that much, you can be in charge of cooking and cleaning."

"Uh…"

"Right. You can't cook. Okay, just cleaning then."

"Jerk."

"_Doctor_ Jerk." Gail groaned and rolled her eyes at the brunette. "Honestly, you'd be doing _me_ the favor, moving in here."

"How do you figure that?"

"Do you know how excited my family will be to hear that my gorgeous date to my cousin's wedding has now _moved in_ with me?"


End file.
